


before the whole human race

by MomoYoMaki



Series: with my sword and head held high [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: AU, M/M, of the 'let's duel for your hand in marriage' variety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-21 03:47:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17635430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MomoYoMaki/pseuds/MomoYoMaki
Summary: This will be your death, Madara had told him and if that had felt like a prophecy then this felt like defying fate.





	before the whole human race

**Author's Note:**

> Help I caught a ship.  
> Title from We Are The Champions by Queen.

The fire in the temple burned hotter then ever in the early hours of the morning, leaving the air dry and sweltering. Izuna ignored the sweat sliding down his back and retraced the symbol in the dirt again. Just one more time. Once more. And again. The lines swam hazily in front of his eyes from the heat, but his fingers flew through the pattern without hesitation each time, an endless cycle he'd been repeating all night.  
"Izuna." Madara's voice called in warning, sounding muffled through the door.  
Startled Izuna finally lifted his head and took in the sunrise streaming through the single window above the alter. When had that happened? He took a moment to swallow around the dryness in his throat before answering.  
"I'm coming." He called back and reached down one last time to scuff out the mark in the dirt until all evidence was erased. He took one more moment to take in the way the alter glowed gold in the new sunlight and pray it was a good omen. Then he forced himself to his feet and joined Madara outside the door.  
Madara was the sort of overprotective brother who'd stand guard outside a temple door all night long even when it wasn't strictly necessary, traditionally speaking. It was the sort of thing Izuna would normally bristle over, but just this once he figured Madara was due a little coddling. Not that it had done much to lighten his mood. (He hadn't truly expected it would.) His mouth held just as much tension as it had the night before when he turned to Izuna. "We need to leave now if we don't want to be late."  
Izuna took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright. Let's go then."  
Madara scowled. "You don't have to do this."  
"It's a little late now, Madara, I've already initiated the challenge." Izuna replied with a roll of his eyes.  
He started down the stairs leading done the mountainside from the temple and despite his brother's growling, he followed. The path offered an almost eerie view of the city swimming in the remains of morning fog, white washed stone rising high into the air in twisting spheres. It still took his breath away despite having lived within its walls most of his life, different then the building styles generally preferred throughout the rest of the empire. It made it easy to believe the tales of an ancient god pulling it up from the stone with bare fingers as opposed to tools. Izuna was determined to make the city a home for the Uchiha once and for all.  
"I still don't understand _why_!" Madara hissed from behind him. "And what makes you think you will be any different from all the others? Izuna, this is _madness_! This will be your death!"  
Izuna kept his eyes fixed ahead as they reentered the city. It helped summon the patience needed to repeat this conversation with his brother while also handily avoiding the gazes fixed on him from every passing civilian, all of them heading in the same direction as they. "Because, oh brother dearest, the Uchiha will die out within the next three generations if we don't gain favour."  
"Hashirama-" Madara began.  
"The crown prince can sing your praises all he wants, but he's not emperor yet. And even if he was, it wouldn't change the council opinion. The Uchiha will continue to be on the front lines of every battle until we've all been killed off."  
Madara had no response to that; he'd spent just as many nights as Izuna raging wth impotent fury at the Senju empire.  
"Besides," Izuna continued, trying to sound optimistic even as they entered the low tunnel leading to the city's arena, "I've sparred with Tobirama before."  
"Yes, and _lost_. I don't want a front row seat to your death, Izuna." Madara insisted, and he sounded like he had at their last brother's funeral, as if he was already mourning him.  
"Then choose another seat." Izuna snapped and picked up speed until he was stepping out into the arena and blazing sunlight.  
The fog had been burned away as they walked, leaving the light to reflect off the white rock and illuminate the entire courtyard as if the sun itself was mocking Izuna, daring him to try and hide from the hundreds of eyes already trained on him.  
With sheer force of will Izuna ignored them, didn't even glance back to see if Madara had gone to join their family.  
If he wavered now, he'd never make it out the other side of this duel. If he couldn't keep his focuse the Uchiha would never rise again. If he didn't do this now, he'd never get a second chance.  
_I don't need to best him, I just need to win._  
Across the courtyard the second prince stepped down into the arena. Tobirama was paler then any other in the empire, his hair a starker white then the stones the city was built from, his eyes as red as any sharingan. Only, Izuna had never seen a sharingan glow like that in the sun. Kissed by the gods at birth, people said. Blessed. An omen of divinity. A demon, the conquered kingdoms whispered. Sensor. If indeed he held any regard from the gods it was little wonder others had gone to their deaths for a dreamers chance at winning the right to marry him.  
Izuna didn't care about any of that.  
As Tobirama continued to advance, Izuna drew his sword and stepped to meet him. His fingers itched with the seal he had spent the night memorizing. Madara was right, Izuna had lost their spar the one time they'd met on the training field. But barely, _barely_. They'd been a closer match then his brother realized. And all Izuna had to do now was get the seal onto him.  
The moment of epiphany had come when he'd gone to collect Madara, who was forever running off with the crown prince, and had seen Tobirama training. Someone had whispered something to their companion as he passed, _blessed by the gods_ , and Izuna had thought of the seal he'd seen in passing once. Tobirama wasn't a god, but there was no reason for a god's containment seal not to work on a human.  
He reached the centre of the courtyard and stopped a good ten feet away from the prince, waiting. The air was buzzing with murmured voices and movement, but now Izuna didn't have to force the sound out as he held Tobirama's eyes, anticipation and a clear sort of certainty singing in his veins like fire. Tobirama's expression gave nothing away, as collected as any politician in the council and as emotionless as the statues that ringed every square in the city. Izuna couldn't guess if he looked forward to these battles or if he hated Izuna for for forcing him into another. Somewhere above them Butsuma's voice rose above the din, his words as good as inaudible to Izuna, and then someone hit the gong.  
Izuna activated his sharingan before the note had even began to fade, allowed the fire he'd been suppressing all night to catch on the air around him, and moved. It felt like fighting Madara, perfectly matched. It felt _nothing_ like fighting Madara. Tobirama moved faster then should be humanly possible, countered as if he new each of Izuna's steps before he took them, as if the sharingan wasn't even a factor. Where moments before there had been nothing but dry stone, water vapor gathered as Izuna lashed out with fire, exploding out and dispersing both their chakra through the air as the steel of their blades sang.  
Izuna waited through a tsunami of water crashing through the courtyard to civillians screams. He dodged Tobirama's blade by centimeters, and still he waited even though it was becoming clearer with every passing moment that Tobirama had been holding back during their spar. He waited until water gathered around his ankles and then he leap, higher then he needed to dodge, high enough to release a fireball down into the arena and then allow himself to fall like a stone into the steam, one hand sliding along the edge of his own blade as he moved.  
_This will be your death_ , Madara had told him and if that had felt like a prophecy then this felt like defying fate.  
Tobirama was there to meet him when he hit the ground, eyes sharp and unwavering through the vapor, his blade swinging around to bite deep into Izuna's shoulder even as Izuna's hand slapped against his forearm. The pain was white hot and it took every ounce of his self control for Izuna to choke back a scream and disengage instead, throwing himself across the courtyard. He landed in a crouch, bloody hand up and in position, tense as a bow string.  
Tobirama stood perfectly still where he'd left him, blade still up but his eyes now fixed on the mark swirlling out across his skin. When he looked up, his ruby eyes meeting Izuna's sharingan without hesitation, his expression was caught somewhere between fury and grudging admiration. Izuna waited, and listened to his blood drip to the ground, all of his chakra focused on the half complete seal he was forming. Slowly, deliberately, Tobirama released his blade so it fell to the dirt with a dull thud.  
"I yield."

**Author's Note:**

> Put this in a series in case I ever get around to exploring this AU some more, so you can subscribe to that if you're interested.


End file.
